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The Virginia State Bar has put out for comment a proposed ethics opinion

This proposed opinion addresses a hypothetical situation in which lawyers Smith and Jones practiced together in the firm Smith & Jones P.C., which used the URL smithjones.com. After Smith withdrew from the firm and began practicing with another firm, Jones changed the firm’s name to “Jones Law Office, P.C.” and established a new website at the URL “joneslawoffice.com.” Jones proposes to automatically redirect anyone who attempts to access smithjones.com to joneslawoffice.com, or alternatively, to put a notice on the smithjones.com website that Smith & Jones, P.C. has now become the Jones Law Office because of Smith’s withdrawal from the firm, providing the date of Smith’s withdrawal and a link to joneslawoffice.com.

In this proposed opinion, the Committee concluded that both of Jones’s proposed alternatives are misleading in the absence of additional information about Smith’s withdrawal from the firm and his continued practice of law. The proposed notice, which would say that Smith & Jones, P.C. “has now become” the Jones Law Office, is misleading without the additional information that Smith continues to practice law, and automatically redirecting website visitors to joneslawoffice.com without providing some explanation is misleading for the same reason.